3 Hours to Decide

The changes to ITA-74 were completed yesterday evening. This morning ITA-80 and ITA-74 were tested. Barely three hours in Hauraki Bay to decide which boat would compete against Orm.

ITA-74 was chosen.

Three hours of testing is a bit thin. Something has to be read into this data. What is ITA-80's role? It went back to the body shop and had more time to effect changes. Usually a second boat is there to produce improvements, yet the first four rounds have had the same boat (with two major overhauls). Right now ITA-80 is looking like a pretty good scarecrow.

After the minor miracle after Round Robin 1, credence must be given to Team Prada's shipbuilding skills. With only three hours of testing, the LR crews were certainly looking at very specific parameters. Shipbuilding may be a science, but sailing is somewhat artistic. The window for testing seems just too tight.

Tomorrow's first race will be very telling.